Uttar Pradesh Cabinet Allows 180-Day Maternity Leave Twice in a Career

24 August 2026National

The Uttar Pradesh Cabinet on 22 August 2026 approved 180 days of paid maternity leave twice during the service career of female state government employees, extending the same benefit to adoptive mothers. It amended Rule 153(1) of the UP Financial Handbook, deleting the earlier requirement of a two-year gap between the first and second maternity leaves. The move follows Allahabad High Court rulings holding that state executive rules cannot override the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 or the Code on Social Security, 2020. It also tracks Tamil Nadu's August 2026 grant of 365-day maternity leave for a third child — the same wave of state-level liberalisation.

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The Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017 raised paid maternity leave from 12 to 26 weeks for the first two children | The Code on Social Security, 2020 is one of four labour codes, alongside the Codes on Wages, Industrial Relations, and Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions | Uttar Pradesh is India's most populous state; its High Court sits at Prayagraj with a bench at Lucknow

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